I, Hogwarts Second Week

Chapter 572 Bathilda Bagshot

What adventure. What conquest. What transcendence.

Death is death.

After death, you can no longer hear, see, or speak, and let the land devour your body bit by bit.

Even if their most beloved and caring son is standing so close to them now, they will not react at all.

Suddenly Harry felt that all this had lost its meaning.

Living is to die, because they will always die.

Those who care about him, love him, and care about him will eventually accompany the land.

"Harry--" Ginny noticed Harry's abnormality.

She saw Harry's tears suddenly burst out, but his expression was frozen, as if he was sick.

She quickly reached out and held Harry's hand tightly, and moved closer.

I hope this warmth can dispel the cold.

"I'm sorry." Harry woke up.

I don't know if he is apologizing to his parents or to Ginny.

Ginny took his hand again and held it tightly. He couldn't look at her, but he held her hand tightly, took a deep breath of cold air, and tried to calm himself down.

He should bring something for them.

He prepared a lot, but it was all for his own safety, but he forgot the most important thing.

The plants on the cemetery were bare and frozen. Ginny took out a large bunch of jasmine from her pocket with her other hand.

Compared with the careless boy, she was much more careful.

Besides, the Weasley family was a large family, and there were almost many people who had to visit the graves of their relatives every year. Ginny naturally knew what to bring, but Harry had never had such experience.

Harry looked at Ginny intently, and then said "Thank you!"

He took the girl's flowers and placed them in front of his parents' graves.

Then, he couldn't stay any longer, it was too sad here.

Just like that, they turned around and left silently, passing the graves of Dumbledore's mother and sister, and walked towards the dark church and the narrow door out of sight, walking so slowly.

"Harry, stop."

"What's wrong?"

Ginny hurriedly grabbed Harry as they walked out of the cemetery.

Compared to Harry who was immersed in sadness and unable to extricate himself, and thus reduced his attention to the outside world, she did not relax at all.

"Someone is there, someone is watching us." They stood motionless, hugged each other, and stared at the edge of the dark cemetery. Harry saw nothing.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, next to the bushes--" Ginny quietly shook her sleeves, and the wand naturally fell into her hand.

"Don't be impulsive." Harry hurriedly said: "We are Muggles now."

"The other party may be confirming their identity. But if it is a Death Eater, they shouldn't be so hesitant, they will take action directly."

"Let's leave carefully and don't do anything strange." Harry said, "Go over there, that alley, as long as we can avoid their sight, we can put on the invisibility cloak."

After that, Harry took Ginny and walked onto a dark street.

The two kept looking back, and the moment they walked into the street, Harry took out the invisibility cloak and put it on quickly.

Then they ran quickly out of the village.

Harry could see the house disappear and the small street turned into a wilderness.

They walked so fast that they dared not go any faster, passing more windows with flashing lights.

"Did they chase us?" Harry asked breathlessly.

"It seems not." Ginny looked back from time to time and saw no one following, "Maybe they are not coming for us."

"Not for us? Who else could it be?"

"Maybe - maybe -" A name flashed through Ginny's mind, but that name was like a meteor, and she could not catch it.

If Hermione was here, she would definitely be able to guess the purpose of the Death Eaters.

Ginny thought so.

Then she was inexplicably angry, angry at herself.

Suddenly the name became clear. Ginny blurted out immediately: "Bathilda Bagshot, they may be for Bathilda Bagshot."

"Bathilda Bagshot? The expert in the history of magic?" Harry muttered, and then he figured it out.

"Bathilda Bagshot is Grindelwald's only living relative. The Death Eaters want to capture Bathilda Bagshot and use it to threaten him."

"That's right!" Ginny nodded. "Bathilda Bagshot lives in Godric's Hollow."

"She is a neighbor of ours," Harry added.

"We have to find Bathilda Bagshot's house quickly and warn her to leave quickly."

Harry said anxiously.

And just then, he saw it.

The Fidelius Charm must have failed with the death of James and Lily. In the sixteen years since Hagrid took Harry away from the ruins, the hedges have grown into a mess, and the rubble is buried in the waist-deep weeds.

Most of the house is still standing, completely covered by dark ivy and mud. The right side of the top floor room was blown up, and Harry thought that must be where the spell bounced back.

At some point, he was standing in front of the door of his former home.

He looked up at the ruins, which must have been the same as the houses on both sides.

Then Harry reached out and grabbed the badly rusted iron door. He didn't want to open it, he just wanted to hold part of the house.

Just then, a wooden sign rose from the ground. It emerged from the tangled nettles and weeds like some strange, fast-growing flower. In gold letters on the sign:

On October 31, 1981, Lily and James Potter died here.

Their son, Harry, is the only wizard to have survived the Killing Curse.

The house, invisible to Muggles, has been preserved as a ruin to commemorate the Potters and to warn of the violence that tore their family apart.

Next to the neat handwriting, there are various inscriptions. They are all written by wizards who have come to see the place where the "Boy Who Lived" escaped death. Some wrote their names in indelible ink, some carved their initials into the sign, and some wrote messages. The most recent ones gleamed on the sixteen years of magical graffiti, and the content was roughly the same.

-Good luck, Harry, wherever you are.

-Hope you can read this, Harry, we are all with you!

-Long live Harry Potter!

"Too conspicuous," Ginny said, "especially now."

"I think it's good." Harry smiled at her.

"I" Harry said, tilting his head. Then he paused.

In his sight, in the distance, a tightly wrapped figure staggered from the small street, and the lights of the square in the distance cast a black outline.

Although it was difficult to judge, Harry felt that it was a woman.

She walked very slowly, perhaps because she was afraid of slipping on the snow.

The hunched body. The bloated figure and the staggering steps all gave people the impression of being very old.

Harry waited to see if she would turn into a small house on the side of the road, but instinctively knew that she would not. Finally, she stopped a few meters away, standing in the middle of the frozen street, facing them.

There was no need for Ginny to pinch his arm. The possibility that this woman was a Muggle was almost zero: she stood there staring at a house that was completely invisible to non-wizards. But even if she was a witch, it would be strange enough to run out on such a cold night just to see the ruins of an old house. Moreover, according to the conventional magic, she should not be able to see him and Ginny at all.

Harry had a very strange feeling, as if she knew they were here and knew who they were. Just as he came to this disturbing conclusion, the woman raised a gloved hand and waved.

Ginny leaned towards Harry under the Invisibility Cloak, her arm pressed against his.

"How did she know?"

He shook his head. The woman waved more vigorously. Harry could think of many reasons not to obey this call, but as the two looked at each other on the empty street, his suspicion of her identity became stronger and stronger.

To be honest, this was a bit weird.

He had just said that Bathilda Bagshot was his neighbor, and an old woman who met his expectations appeared.

And the other party seemed to be able to see through him.

He was obviously wearing an Invisibility Cloak.

Could it be that Dumbledore arranged it in advance?

Harry couldn't help but think of the mysterious and powerful headmaster, who always arranged everything properly, as if nothing could exceed his expectations.

And considering the relationship between Grindelwald and the headmaster, it seems not impossible that he arranged Bathilda Bagshot to wait for him here.

Finally Harry spoke.

Ginny was startled.

"Are you Bathilda Bagshot?"

The tightly wrapped figure nodded and waved.

"Don't go." Ginny said.

The two looked at each other under the invisibility cloak. As long as they are not blind, they can see that the old woman over there is a little weird.

But in the magical world, some weird wizards are normal. After all, neither of them has seen Bathilda Bagshot.

"Don't worry, we have prepared the door key." Harry patted his waist pocket, and then silently took out the wand and held it in his hand.

"Besides, what if it is really Bathilda Bagshot? We have to save her."

"But--" Ginny wanted to say something. If she and Ron were here, she would naturally not say much. But the one next to her was Harry. She didn't want to see Harry get hurt, nor did she want to lose him.

Harry led Ginny toward the woman.

The old woman turned around immediately.

She staggered back the way she had come, past a few houses. She turned to a doorway.

The two of them followed the old woman, following her down the path and through a garden that was almost as wild as the last one.

She fumbled with the key at the front door for a moment, unlocked it, stepped aside, and let them in. Like a lamb entering a tiger's mouth.

Harry and Ginny sidled through the door and took off the Invisibility Cloak.

He stood close to Bathilda Bagshot and realized that she was so small and old that she was stooped, just reaching his chest. She closed the door, her blue and spotted knuckles against the peeling paint, and then turned to stare at Harry's face, her eyes deep in the transparent folds of skin, which were thick with cataracts. Her face was covered with intermittent blood vessels and age spots.

He doubted whether the old woman could see clearly, and if she could, she would only see the bald Muggle he was impersonating.

The smell of old mold, dust, dirty clothes and spoiled food became stronger. She untied the moldy black headscarf, revealing a head with sparse white hair and a clearly visible scalp.

"Ms. Bathilda." Harry asked again.

She nodded again.

Harry watched her slowly take out the wand from her sleeve. Then cast a spell on the door.

Then he turned and walked into the living room.

"Harry. We seem..." Ginny's heart beat wildly, and a sense of danger rushed to her head.

She wanted to escape immediately.

Harry also held his wand tightly. He protected Ginny behind him, and the two of them slowly moved forward along the wall.

The living room was not big and full of dust.

It was a cold day, and there was no fire in the fireplace.

Bathilda Bagshot did not stop in the living room, but walked to the end of a corridor behind the living room. There was a door there, which might be the kitchen or somewhere else.

Harry was a little panicked. He handed the pocket on his waist to Ginny and asked her to take out the door key. If there was any accident, they would escape immediately.

"Harry, look here." Ginny said in a low voice.

She pointed to a door on the right side of the living room, which was facing the stairs to the second floor.

Unlike other places, there was a glimmer of light coming from the crack of this door.

"Be careful." Harry said.

Then Ginny waved her wand, "Alaho Open--"

The wand shot out a gray spell, and with a "click", the locked door was opened.

"Huh--" Ginny took a deep breath, her sweaty right hand tightly grasped the wand, and the other hand carefully pushed the door open.

The moment the door opened, the secret hidden inside was immediately exposed to the two of them.

"Oh my God!"

There were four people in the room, three men and one woman. They looked very young, probably only more than twenty years old.

Their skin was gray, kneeling on the ground, tightly bound by black chains. There were all kinds of wounds on their bodies.

The ground was also full of various bottles and sharp weapons.

I think these people have been tortured.

"Merlin's beard!" Ginny's pupils shrank, and her heart sank into her stomach.

Her teeth were cold.

She looked back at Harry in horror.

Harry was almost as shocked as Ginny at this moment.

Now it is certain that this Bathilda Bagshot is definitely not her real self. She is someone else pretending to be a Death Eater.

Looking at the four poor wizards in the room, Harry was furious.

The shameless Death Eater killed Bathilda Bagshot and pretended to be her, and stayed here waiting for others to come to the door.

And didn't he come in stupidly?

"Squeak--"

Suddenly there was a slight sound of the door opening.

Harry's tense limbs turned around suddenly.

The moment he saw the fake Bathilda Bagshot, his arms subconsciously waved, and he almost instinctively threw a spell.

"Expelliarmus!"

The red spell whizzed past.

It hit Bathilda Bagshot directly.

The wand in her hand flew out immediately.

"Tell me, who are you--"

Harry said sharply, his eyes fierce.

"Are you sent by the You-Know-Who? What did you do to the real Bathilda Bagshot?"

"Tell me!!!"